You don't have to be a child or a parent to know the work of children's book illustrator Jerry Pinkney.

		Jerry Pinkney will speak Saturday at Carnegie Library in Oakland.

The prolific Pinkney has created artwork for National Park Service projects, designed greeting cards, album covers and posters, had a number of one-man art shows in various museums, and created illustrations for the first nine stamps in the U.S. Postal Service's popular "Black Heritage" collection.

But Pinkney probably is best known for his luminous watercolor illustrations in dozens of children's books, including such favorites as "Sam and the Tigers," "The Ugly Duckling" and "Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman."

Since his first children's book was published in 1964, Pinkney has won five Caldecott Honors and four Coretta Scott King awards. He is revered as a pioneer in the burgeoning field of children's books about and by African-Americans.

"Not only has he developed and mastered his craft, but he is a role model for so many others," said Chrystal Carr Jeter, youth services manager of the Cleveland Public Library and the chair of the Coretta Scott King Award committee for the past two years.

On Saturday, Pinkney will be the featured speaker in the "Black, White and Read All Over" series sponsored by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures.

"What I try to do in these presentations is talk to children about their dreams, about following a passion and creating a goal for themselves," Pinkney said in a telephone interview from his home outside New York City. "I share with them my journey, and tell them that the same kind of thing can happen to them."

In the past four decades, Pinkney, 65, has published more than 80 children's books.

"Not only has he perfected working in an unyielding medium (watercolors don't allow for mistakes like oils), he continues to create fresh perspectives, making familiar themes new," said Maria Salvadore, who teaches children's literature at the University of Maryland.

"I admire him and think that his work is often underrated because he makes it look easy, does beautiful work consistently, and is so well-loved by audiences."

"Watercolor suits me very well," Pinkney said. "It's magical to me because I don't know exactly how it will come out."

In addition to creating his own art, Pinkney has also produced a family of children's book authors and illustrators. His son Brian has won praise for his distinctive scratchboard illustrations. Brian Pinkney's wife, Andrea Davis Pinkney, is a children's book author and editor. Another son, Myles Pinkney, has published several highly regarded books of photographs for children, written by his wife, Sandra.

Jerry Pinkney's wife, Gloria, is a milliner and jewelry designer who finally joined in the family tradition several years ago, writing such books as "Back Home" and "The Sunday Outing," both of which were illustrated by her husband.

The Pinkney family recently teamed up on a book of spirituals called "Music From Our Lord's Holy Heaven."

Family has always been important to Pinkney, who grew up in Philadelphia as a middle child of six children.

It was his talent for drawing that helped propel Pinkney, who is dyslexic, through school. At age 11, Pinkney had a newsstand and would while away time by drawing passers-by. One of them, a cartoonist named John Liney, became a mentor.

Upon graduating from the commercial art course at Dobbins Vocational High School, Pinkney received a full scholarship to the Philadelphia Museum College of Art (now University of the Arts).

Once Pinkney completed his degree, he and Gloria moved to Boston, where Pinkney worked as a designer at several graphic art studios, and also picked up his first illustration assignment, a children's book called "The Adventures of Spider."

The family moved to New York, and Pinkney continued to work in advertising to earn money while doing children's books in his spare time. Then, in 1986, Pinkney received the Coretta Scott King award for his illustrations for "The Patchwork Quilt," written by Valerie Flouroy.

"That [award] helped a lot. It pushed everything forward for me," Pinkney said.

Asked if he'll ever run out of ideas or energy, Pinkney laughed and said that's not a concern.

"The energy is there. I am getting older. But, as I tell students, creativity is a lifelong promise. If you can be creative in what you do, the pull to create will always be there."